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It’s no secret that good Pho broth requires a gazillion hours of simmering time. Time that I just don’t have. Tony, a boyfriend from a lifetime ago, told me his Dad used to simmer giant vats of pho broth overnight for his little pho restaurant in Houston. So, one day, I thought it would be really genius to do the same. Dump a bunch of beefy, tendony, knuckley, marrowey bones into the largest stockpot that I have and let it simmer away while I slept.

It didn’t quite work out as I had intended:

11:30pm Initial hard boil of the bones to get all the yuck, guck and scum off. Char ginger and onion.

4:51am Did I forget to put ice cream back in freezer? What if the gas bubble really does happen and stove spontaneously bursts out in flames? Then sleeping on couch is a dumbass idea. Crawl back to bed.

6:00am Kids wake up. Jumps up and down on my belly trying to wake me up.

How to make Crock Pot Pho

Whether you use the Crock Pot Pho method or the traditional stove top method, there are a couple of steps that you’ll need to do before throwing it all in the Crock Pot or slow cooker. Namely, toasting the spices, grilling the onion/ginger and pre-boiling the bones. These aren’t absolutely necessary steps…you’ll still make great pho…BUT these extra steps will make the difference between good pho and pho-bulous pho.

Toasting the Vietnamese Pho Spices

You can buy Pho spices at most Asian supermarkets – you can buy the spices separately (coriander seeds, cloves, cinnamon, star anise, fennel and cardamom pod) or purchase them already mixed up in a package (which also includes a small mesh bag). The quality of these pre-mixed spices are just okay – but sometimes it’s just convenient to pick up a bag, not to mention much cheaper if you don’t already have many of these spices. A Pho spice pack will typically sell for $1-$3.

This day that I made the Crock Pot Pho, I used individual spices. I didn’t have cardamom pod. So yes, if you are missing one of couple of the spices, it’s okay. To get the best flavor from these spices, you’ll toast them in a dry skillet.

Grilling Ginger and Onion

This is a totally optional step, but it really gives the ginger and the onion a deep, sweet, mellow flavor. When I’m making Pho the traditional stovetop way, I’ll char them in the broiler. But with the crock pot method, I didn’t want to use the oven at all. After toasting the spices (above) in a frying pan, I add a bit of oil and grilled the onion half and thick ginger slices.

Pre-Boiling the Bones

Knuckles, leg bones with lots of marrow are the best for making soup. The marrow will also make the soup rich and thick. The bones are pre-boiled for a few minutes on high heat to clean the bones and get rid of the nasty scum.

You’ll bring a big stockpot of water to a boil on high heat. Add the bones and boil hard for 10 minutes. You’ll see brownish scum rise to the surface. If you hadn’t taken the time to pre-boil the bones, all that scummy stuff ends up in your soup.

<– nasty pho-reaky scum

Drain, discard the scummy water and briefly rinse the bones.

Now you’ll add the spices, ginger, onion and bones to the slow cooker.

Fill with fresh, clean, cool water about 1-1/2 inches below the surface. Set your slow cooker on low for 8 hours. I haven’t tried this method on high, but I’m sure it would be just fine.

So let this cook during all day while you’re at work or at night while you sleep and you’ll be rewarded with the cleanest, best tasting pho soups ever. Because the slow cooker doesn’t let the stock boil hard, it’s safe, easy and convenient.

Here’s what the stock looks like when it’s been cooking for 8 hours on low. Notice that the level of the liquid is still pretty high. The low, even setting doesn’t evaporate the precious liquid as much as a stove top can. The stock is strained before serving.

Other Pho Ingredients

I used different ingredients than my previous version of traditional Vietnamese Pho and I wanted to highlight them. Instead of using dried rice noodles, I used fresh rice noodles found at Asian markets, in the refrigerated section because all these need is a quick dip in boiling water. Very fast!

I also bought a package of Vietnamese Beef Balls (called Bo Vien Dan). There are all sorts of balls – beef, pork, chicken, fish, crab, and my favorite – beef tendon. They come frozen in a package and they are pre-cooked, so all you need to do is throw the frozen balls into the same pot of boiling water as you cooked your noodles in. Just boil for a couple of minutes until the beef balls are heated through. I like cutting these beef balls in half, so make them easier to eat. It’s not so pretty trying to stick an entire beef ball in your mouth. Unless…you’re like really into that.

Crock Pot Pho Recipe

Servings: 4

Prep Time:

Cook Time:

This is a recipe for a 6.5 quart (or larger) Crock Pot. Any smaller really isn't that great - you won't get enough stock out of it...because the beef bones are really chunky and big. The thinly sliced meat for the bowls may be easier to slice if you freeze the chunk of meat for 15 minutes prior to slicing. You really want them as thin a possible. You can also do what I do - palm your butcher a $5 bill and he'll slice the meat for you on his fancy slicing machine

Directions:

1. Bring a large stockpot with water to boil over high heat. When it comes to a rolling boil, add the beef bones and boil vigourously for 10 minutes.

2. In the meantime, heat a frying pan on medium-low heat. Add the Vietnamese Pho Spices and toast until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Dump the spices to the empty Crock Pot or slow cooker immediately. Return frying pan to medium-high heat and add 1 tablespoon of oil. When the oil is hot, add the ginger slices and the onion half. Cook until the ginger is browned on both sides and the onion half is nicely browned and softened. Add the ginger and the onion to the Crock Pot or slow cooker.

3. When the bones have been pre-boiled, drain, discard water and rinse bones briefly to clean them. Add the bones to the Crock Pot or slow cooker. Fill the Crock Pot with fresh, clean, cool water to just 1-1/2 inches below surface, add the fish sauce and sugar. Cover and set the Crock Pot or slow cooker to cook on low for 8 hours. Taste and season with additional fish sauce if needed.

4. When you are just about ready to eat, you'll prep the rest of the ingredients for the Pho bowls. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the beef balls and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes. Remove the balls, keeping the water boiling and now cook the noodles according to package instructions. If you are using fresh noodles, all they need is a couple of minutes. Drain immediately.

5. Strain the stock with a fine meshed sieve. Discard the solids.

6. Line up 4 large bowls on counter. Distribute the noodles, beef balls and thin steak slices evenly amongst the bowls. Ladle the hot Pho stock into each bowl. The hot stock should cook the thin steak slices. Serve with lime wedges, fresh herbs, chili peppers, Hoisin sauce and Sriracha hot chili sauce at the table.

205 Comments

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Hmm….sounds delishh but a lot of work..I might try that with my handy dandy crock pot.I noticed you have most of the Asian country recipes but nothing from the Phillippines.Did you have any Filipino food before?Just wondering…you might like some.Have a good one!

I luuv pho!! The crockpot technique sounds like a cool way to go! But please…CAN SOMEOBODY PLEASE TELL ME HOW TO DO THOSE TASTY TENDON SLICES…you know, the ones you get in the Pho restaurants?? Tendon’s my fav in my pho. Beef balls are all right, but (sigh!!)they are not the same!!

Hey! Thanks for your wonderfully humorous approach to food writing! I’m making your Crock Pot version now. (I started to make it your traditional recipe and found this waaaay easier version while the bones were hard boiling!) BUT, when I went to balance the seasonings, I felt like it really wanted some salt. The fish sauce we have came from a Philippino market and looks very traditional but has little or no sodium, and there is none called for in your recipe. I added about a teaspoon of kosher sea salt at the end, which seems to have done the trick, but I’m really wondering when you recommend that the salt be added for the next time I make this. The house smells too good not to do this again!

I made this soup and it was wonderful! We used the Pho ‘boullion cubes’ in place of the actual spices and it came out great!

My only complaint is that there were so many bones that took up the space in the crockpot we were left with very little broth. My husband was thinking we could just make the soup with the boullion cubes water the onion and ginger and get about the same result. I just am not sure how much flavor we actually got from the beef bones.

God, I am such a sucker for pho. My favorite protein for pho is chicken, but it’s impossible to get the chicken breast cooked without drying out. Therefore – we got a sous vide supreme specifically for cooking chicken for pho (and now use it for all sorts for other good things, too). Not exactly the most traditional preparation, but we’ve got our version of pho ga down to a delicious science.

Jaden, you are cracking me up! I LOVE what you’re doing.
I’m super excited to try this recipe and I have a quick question. Is it ok to boil the bones, char the onion/ginger, and toast the spices the night before – then start the crock pot in the morning?
If not, this would probably be a weekend meal vs a weeknight meal.
Thank you!!

The aroma of the broth cooking in the crock pot is making me insane (in a good way). I would not cook this at night because I would not be able to sleep!

When I went to the Vietnamese grocery to get bones and such, the very friendly clerk suggested a product made by Quoc Viet as a Pho base. She said it is good and that most Vietnamese people she knows use it to make Pho. I looked at the package and saw that it was salt, sugar, beef fat, etc., so I decided against it. Does anyone have any knowledge or experience with this product?

Not everyone might care, but my Chef of 20+ years roommate let me know that if you bring the water to a boil BEFORE putting it in the crockpot, it speeds up the proceed considerably. BONUS: don’t go the cheap route and forget to char the onions/garlic – that adds a *significant* part to the flavor. Please also consider roasting the bones in the oven for even more flavor! And on top of all that, make it into a food-cure by adding your favorite herbs. Because we have a library of Chinese tonic herbs, we threw in some blood building tonics. Tastes good and heals you simultaneously – now THATS dinner!

This was my first attempt at making Pho I was impressed good base recipe with a few adjustments and some extra seasoning to make it my own. If i can make this anyone can 🙂 easy to make and it turned out fantastic

I used your recipe and LOVE it!!! I did not have an Asian food store close by, so I have to do my best with the ingredients I found and the regular food store! It turned out good! But I plan on finding an Asian store so I can do it the right way next time! And thank you for saying that I could use the crock pot! It worked out great!!!

hi jaden, i just followed this recipe on the stove (instead of your crockpot) but i am still lacking some depth to my soup! is there a reason behind the depth? i bought about 4lbs of beef bone and my pot was about 6 quarts of water. please let me know if the amount of bones to water ratio makes any difference? or can it be the kind of beef bone?

This recipe is wonderful. I used beef neckbones for mine. Howeve, my crock pot is only 5 quartz size so I had to minimize the bones to only 3 pounds and I added 2 boullion cubes (I placed mine in high for 4.5 hours which really needs a boost since time really cannot be substituted for a good broth.) Anyway, I love this recipe so much. My husband even had 2 servings of it plus 1 to bring to work. Too bad. My area is in the border of Mexico that I am glad I was able to get most of your ingredients. (So hard to get Asian ingredients unless I go out of the RGV). More power to you. I hope to see more things to do with my crock pot.

P.S. For those looking for a short cut in scum removal. Jaden suggested the most easiest way for the soup not to taste like scum. I tried the Japanese paper where the scum would attach to the paper while cooking. Sadly, does not work. I am still stuck with the scum. The other time, I just put the meat in the slow cooker with water (making nilaga that time) then I saw my meat all with scum after 1 hour. I got to throw the whole soup, wash the meat and wash the crock pot container again.

We’re trying out this recipe right now! ;D But while we were searching for ingredients we found that “Safeway” had the beef already sliced thinly at a fair price. If that helps your readers! (I live in Canada and I am unsure if Safeway exists in the states, but still!)

Thank you so much for this Pho recipie! My boyfriend’s ex was vietnamese and her dad used to make Pho for my boyfriend alot. I love to cook so I thought I would give this recipe a try. It was a big hit with my boyfriend who said it was perfect and just like he remembers it. I also added a bit of yellow rock sugar for some more flavor. I’ll be making this recipe many times over.

so, i followed this recipe to the “t” i currently have 2 hours left of cook time…and the broth tastes like herbed water. i am no slouch in the kitchen and ive had enough pho to know that this is not what pho broth is supposed to taste like. boiled the bones, toasted the spices, ginger and onion. added all to crock pot (filled with water up to about 1 1/2 inch from the top) and left it on low for the first 4 hours. is giving off a wonderful aroma but absolutely no taste. have turned it up to high for the last 4 hours of cooking. what went wrong?

Hi Mary I read that you’re not getting much flavor from the Pho. I cooked my Pho for 16 hours straight. Everything I’ve read online says that 8-12 hours is preferred and more would probably be better. I also added double the spices noted for more flavor. I put in approx 1/4 cup of fish sauce. I also made new onions and caramelized them on the stove which added a lot of flavor.

For those of you that have leftovers, I recommend storing the broth, noodles, and condiments all separately.

I sometimes toss the remaining beef in the pot so the beef keeps, but if you’re going to eat it the next day, you can just heat to boiling and do everything the same. Noodles seem to recover just fine if you cool them and pack gently. I warm the noodles for 20 seconds in the microwave if I’m going to pour the broth over the noodles and raw beef.

Thank you for the recipe, I believe it’s great, unfortunately it didn’t work for me. The aroma was so great, everybody couldn’t wait to eat, but when we tasted, it was so bland and oily (;_;). I tried to put more fish sauce, triple from what you suggested but it still didn’t work and I don’t know what was wrong.. maybe too much water less bones, and I used all marrow bones.

Made this recipe as written and it was delicious. I cooked it on low for 8 hours overnight and then strained and refrigerated the broth in the morning. When I came home from work all the fat had risen to the top and solidified. It was very easy to discard of and left a clean flavourful broth. I will make my pho stock with the slow cooker from now on. Thanks for the great recipe!

By the way, I enjoyed the recipe. I love Beef Pho and now I know how to make it at home! Definitely will cook this here. It’s also good to add fresh basil leaves on the soup before you serve it. It adds to the flavor.

Another one I love is seafood pho, will the procedure for the seafood pho the same? If I simmer the seafoods for sometime it will get overcooked and turn to bits right?

Followed this recipe to a T. Broth was aromatic, however, I knew there was something wrong as soon as I began to ladle it into our serving bowls. Broth was almost pure oil, greasy and flavorless. My wife and I could only take a few bites before giving up and throwing it in trash. Recipe needs to specify if the broth needs to be cooled first and skimmed of fat before serving.

This is the first pho recipe I’ve ever tried to make at home, but def not the first bowl I’ve eaten. Just like everyone above, the broth was very aromatic but way too greasy and the taste was a little off.

FINALLY! A pho recipe that looks fairly easy and time saving!! I CANNOT wait to try this! Thank you so much for posting 🙂 You possibly just saved me several hours of driving time just to get some pho (I have to drive 1 1/2 hours away at about twice a month from where I live just to get some).